After taking ballet
lessons and dancing with the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, this chubby-cheeked,
long-legged performer made her first film, My Blue Heaven (1950). She
had a bit of a lull before marrying talent agent Jack Bean who jump-started
her career with Anything Goes (1956), The Joker is Wild, and Les Girls
(both 1957).

She is perhaps best
remembered for South Pacific (1958), one of her last few films. Since
then, she has appeared on stage, in television and in night clubs. In
1989, she embarked on a 36-city, 11-month tour with Anything Goes.